Sera Prognostics, a company focused on improving maternal and neonatal health by providing innovative pregnancy biomarker information to doctors and patients, today announced that Dr. Michael R. Foley has been appointed to the position of Chief Medical Officer beginning in January 2022. Dr. Foley will lead all medical activities for Sera as the company executes its vision to be the Pregnancy Company. He joins a group of clinical operations and medical professionals who support Sera’s collaborations with research teams across the globe.
Sera Prognostics is a health diagnostics company dedicated to improving the lives of women and babies through precision pregnancy care. Sera’s mission is to deliver early, pivotal information in pregnancy to physicians, enabling them to improve the health of their patients, resulting in reductions in the costs of healthcare delivery. Sera has a robust pipeline of innovative diagnostic tests focused on the early prediction of preterm birth risk and other complications of pregnancy.
Preterm birth is defined as any birth before 37 weeks’ gestation and is the leading cause of illness and death in newborns. The 2020 March of Dimes Report Card shows that of approximately 3.8 million babies born annually in the United States, more than one in ten is born prematurely. Prematurity is associated with a significantly increased risk of major long-term medical complications, including learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, chronic respiratory illness, intellectual disability, seizures, and vision and hearing loss, and can generate significant costs throughout the lives of affected children. The annual health care costs to manage short- and long-term complications of prematurity in the United States were estimated to be approximately $25 billion for 2016.
Sera Prognostics’ PreTRM test is the only broadly clinically validated, commercially available blood-based biomarker test that provides an early, accurate and individualized risk prediction for spontaneous preterm birth in asymptomatic singleton pregnancies. The test measures and analyzes proteins in the blood that are highly predictive of preterm birth.
“We are honored to have Dr. Foley bring his extensive Maternal-Fetal Medicine and leadership experience to the Sera Prognostics team to help us achieve our vision to improve the lives of women and babies through individualized prenatal care,” said Gregory C. Critchfield, M.D., M.S., Chairman and CEO of Sera Prognostics. “Mike is highly respected for his expertise, his judgment, and his commitment to the health of mothers and babies. His leadership will provide important insights and perspective, as we actively educate payers about the impacts of the PreTRM Test-and-treat strategy for improving pregnancy outcomes through expanded access to valuable individualized PreTRM risk information.”
Dr. Michael Foley initially practiced Maternal-Fetal Medicine in private practice for more than 20 years and retires on December 31, 2021 from the role of Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix/Banner Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, where he served for nearly a decade and now is working with both the university and Sera in an orderly transition that is to be completed at year-end. Dr. Foley received his medical degree from Chicago Medical School in 1984. He completed an Obstetrics and Gynecology residency and a Maternal-Fetal Medicine fellowship at The Ohio State University Hospital in 1988 and 1990, respectively. He is also an award-winning teacher, author, and has published numerous scientific articles while also serving as a reviewer for several medical journals. Dr. Foley is the Lead Editor of Obstetric Intensive Care: A Practical Manual (McGraw-Hill), which is currently in its fifth edition (2018). He is also a Co-editor for Critical Care Obstetrics-Fifth and Sixth Editions (Wiley-Blackstone).
“I am inspired to work with such an amazing ensemble of talented leaders and scientists at Sera to empower obstetric providers with novel and impactful precision pregnancy biomarker information that enables improved health for moms and babies,” said Dr. Foley. “I am looking forward to sharing my passion for medical leadership, mentoring, and professional development with Sera Prognostics’ vision to provide groundbreaking pregnancy diagnostic information to patients and physicians worldwide.”
